The present invention relates to toilets and more particularly to such toilets utilized by handicapped persons who are unable to bend at the hips or otherwise be seated at a conventional form of toilet seat.
The ordinarily simple toilet tasks of defecation and urination become a constant problem and source of humiliation and embarrassment to people who are handicapped by back injuries or other afflictions that prohibit them from bending at the hips or otherwise sitting as is expected of most people. This condition makes it nearly impossible for that person to attend to himself when utilizing a conventional sit down type toilet. It has therefore become very desirable for such persons to obtain a form of toilet that may be utilized from a standing or a near standing position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,324 discloses a stand up toilet that provides a serviceable solution to this problem. In this patent, a receiving container is provided on a single post telescoping stand. The container includes another two separate inner containers for use as toilet facilities. These containers are removable from the receiving container. The receiving container is fixed to the central post.
The post arrangement is designed so that the container and the removable containers held therein may be elevated at will by the user. The mechanism utilized for this purpose is a toggle lever type linkage that may be selectively locked in position by a set screw or slip pin. Although this device is serviceable, it is relatively complex by nature and presents an accumulation of many elements that must be assembled and disassembled should the user need to move the apparatus from place to place. The number of elements that are required to be assembled and disassembled discourage its use as a portable unit.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 1,659,725 discloses a bidet. This apparatus uses a foldable framework that includes at a top surface, ovato-oblong seat that is hinged to "sawhorse"-like leg members. A rectangular open container is removably carried below the seat and a pivoted bracket is provided for a length of flexible tube which may be connected to the faucet of a sink or bathtub. The container further includes a drain. Obviously, it is not the intent that this apparatus be used as a toilet facility nor is there any teaching towards its utilization as, in particular, a stand up form of toilet as that taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,324.
Various other forms of portable toilet apparatus are known but are not considered to be pertinent to the present improved apparatus. For example, several forms of fold up arrangements have been devised for use with automobiles and incorporated therein integrally with the floor section. These apparatus assume that the user may bend readily at the hips. If not, he would not be able to sit in the automobile in the first place.
The present invention is intended to provide an extremely simple apparatus that is equally simple for a person of either sex to utilize in a manner in which no attendant is required. The device is constructed very simply and of relatively few interconnecting elements to enable ease in assembly and disassembly. It includes a single container that is easily removable from its support for emptying and cleaning.